Chasing you | ✓

Chapter 21 - Paula

Paula stepped into the studio, walking straight up to the mirrors and dropping her bag on the floor with a thud. She started pulling off her jean jacket.

"Uh— Hi Paula."

A grin plastered onto her face as she looked at me through the mirror.

"Hey girl! How are you doing?"

That was odd. Hadn't she seen me when she came through the door? I was sure she'd looked right at me.

"Do you have a late class on?" I asked as I watched her rummage around in her pink duffel. The shoulder strap clattered with it hit the floor. It was covered in pastel Squishmallow pins. 

"Nope," she said, popping the word. "Just getting some practice in."

I was about to make a quip about the odds of her coming to the studio Jack and I had just been practicing in, but I shut my mouth and decided against it.

"Have a good workout," I said in my friendliest voice and packed up the last of my things. I didn't know why she was acting strangely, but I gave her the benefit of a doubt and decided she'd probably had a long day. 

The sun was just about to set behind trees in the distance, casting slivers of golden glow into the studio. The slivers didn't do much to light up the room, if anything they added to the dusky mood settling in. Jack and I hadn't needed to turn on the overhead lights but Paula would probably need to.

The digits on my phone told me it was over seven already. No wonder my stomach was starting to growl in protest. 

Right when I paused at the door, throwing a glance over my shoulder to mumble a goodbye, Paula's voice surprised me.

"I see the way you look at him, you know."

Her eyes were trained on her hands, where she was fiddling with a turquoise scrunchie. She pulled on the elastic, stretching the fabric out, and let it snap back onto her fingers.

Since her face was turned downward, with her back to the last of the sunset, I could barely make out her shaded face in the mirrors. I only saw how her eyebrows were pulled together, scrunching up her forehead. The rest of her face was hidden behind curtains of perfectly wavy, brown hair.

"You like him, don't you?" 

Well, this suddenly got awkward. I had a hunch that Paula liked him, too, but I hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it. Was she trying to go all in right now, settling the score?

"It's not really like that," I mused, thinking it was what she wanted to hear. "We're just dancing together for the assignment."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it was the only thing I was ready to officially admit to.

"It's not just dancing, though. Is it?"

Her head snapped up, eyes meeting mine through the mirrors. Her usually indifferent face was replaced with a scowl.

"I'm not gonna let you hurt him."

Her reply made me frown. Jack and I were friendly classmates at best and borderline enemies at worst, so I doubted he cared about anything I did.